I'm thinking of moving us all from a landline to cell phones--I figured it out and it would be cheaper to do that than to have two cells (wife and son) and a landline. But I'm as worried to do that as I am to erase the Jaguar backup on the external HD. So, I know that Bryan went completely wireless. Anyone else? Any pros or cons? My wife tried calling her sister down in FL right after the hurricane, and she couldn't get through to her cell phone because apparently cells don't work in storms. Is that true? Would they not work during a blizzard? If it is true, it seems that they'd cut out when you need them most!<br><br>I also have a question about how reliable refurbished cell phones are. I know refurbished Macs are great , but are refurbbed phones reliable? <br><br>

I've been landline free for over a year now. The only downside for me is when I forget to plug my phone in and the battery goes dead. The upside is, ofcourse, that I'm never without my phone. No matter where I am.<br><br>

our fear of doing the same is the 911 service. with a cell phone, they wouldn't know where you are calling from, but with our landline, our young children could call and they'd know. perhaps cell phone tech is better these days, but that's largely what is limiting us from doing the same. well, that and the security of having dial up service if the broadband goes down.<br><br>--<br>

I did some searching and it seems that the FCC has mandated that all cell phones have GPS capabilities by December 2005. Many already have it so you can probably find a service provider that uses it now.<br><br>

I've been very happy with my Sony Ericsson T610 and although I still have a landline available to me (my roommate uses it), I've never needed to use it instead of my cell phone. The only exception I can think of is when I used it to make an 800 call, but I could have used my phone without worrying about overage charges or anything.<br><br>If you are concerned about cell phone reliability, it all comes down to where you live and plan to use it. If your provider has the area you're in pretty well covered, you shouldn't ever have to worry about getting through since there are plenty of available equivalents to phone circuits.<br><br>Weather generally is not a factor with GSM phones. (T-Mobile, Cingular, ATT Wireless are all GSM providers.) GSM cells communicate directly with a satellite network. From what I have heard, this is different from CDMA/TDMA cells that daisy chain so the signal spends more time in the lower atmosphere, exposed to weather. This could have been accurate or not. I've never seen my cell phone reception drop in a lightning storm though.<br><br>I know that even if a modern cell phone does not have GPS, it does have some kind of locator that will send information in case of an emergency 911 phone call. The phone triangulates your position from the nearby GSM cells and sends the information to the 911 dispatcher.<br><br>The only con I can think of right now for having a cell phone is that you will inevitably accidentally leave the ringer on and get a call at an inappropriate time, after which you will shamefully look at your shoes and think, "damnit... I was that guy, you know... the cell phone guy." Also, you might annoy the piss out of other people on mass transit systems if you talk too loudly on a train. Avoid doing that. <br><br>-- Charlie Alpha Roger Yankee Whiskey

The Pros are many, not the least of which is depriving my monopoly phone company of another red cent from me. <br><br>The cons:<br><br>--No faxing (I never really fax, but some people might need to)<br><br>--When the broadband goes out. Happens rarely, but sometimes at the worst time<br><br>--The 911 thing. My provider has a locator in the phone so they can find me if anything happens, but some providers might not have that yet. <br><br><br><br>

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